WHAT'S UP, DOC?

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It seems I have had several medical appointments lately for various reasons, which prompted me to reflect on the differences between my experiences in the doc’s office here and in the States. Let’s start with the States.

So you arrive for your appointment early. The second you open the door to the office, the Doctor’s Office Smell fills your nostrils. You know the one - that oh-so-familiar smell of … of what? I don’t know exactly, but it smells vaguely of sterilized medical packaging and those wooden sticks they use to see down your throat. You walk to the receptionist’s desk where a woman dressed in some awfully patterned scrubs looks up at you (probably without smiling) over a high counter and possibly through a plexi-glass window as you sign your name, the time of your appointment, and the time at which you arrived. Upon arrival, you show your insurance card (even if you go to the same doctor every week) and pay your co-pay.

You then sit and wait for at least fifteen minutes in the brightly-lit waiting room filled with magazines about health and parenting, children’s toys (off in one corner), and some artwork (mediocre and generic landscapes, most likely). You try not to sit right next to anyone - making conversation in a doctor’s office is always a little tense - and usually don’t have any trouble doing so, since there are chairs lined up all around the perimeter of the waiting room.

Then a medical assistant (nurse? I don’t really know the difference…) dressed in different but equally horrific scrubs calls you back to an examination room. Somehow the lights in the exam rooms seem even brighter than they were in the waiting room, maybe just because the floor in the exam room is a shiny, light grey tile instead of a dull, darkish blue carpet. So the nurse takes your temperature and blood pressure, asks you a few questions, takes notes on the clipboard, and then leaves you alone in the oh-so-charming exam room for another fifteen minutes to wait for the doctor. Don’t worry, though - while you wait, you can read the various posters and flyers on the walls about everything from diabetes to erectile dysfunction to insurance coverage. If you finish all that, there’s most likely some poster of the human body or other that you can study.

Then the doctor comes, asks you the same questions that the nurse does, and makes smalltalk about how you have been while examining you. The doctor then tells you his or her findings and discusses what he or she recommends as treatment for whatever you may have. If he or she has prescribed any medication, it is explained to you what the medicine is for and how it works.

Upon leaving, you see the medical assistant again. They hand you your receipt and prescription and take care of setting up any follow-up appointments.

Now let’s go to France.

I called to make an appointment to see a general practitioner. I made the appointment over the phone with a receptionist. When I arrived that morning, I buzzed to be let into the building. The door was opened, and I walked in. Looking around, there was no receptionist in sight, nor did I see a vacant desk where she might be sitting. Frankly, I felt like I was just in someone’s house. There was a wooden floor that creaked and looked like it could probably use a facelift, and the light fixtures were bare and dim. This was quite the stark contrast from the over-lighted, over-cleaned, over-sterilized doctors’ offices I knew in the States.

There was a door labeled “Salle d’attente” (waiting room), so I walked in hesitantly and sat down. I could hear people talking, but I didn’t see anyone. I waited about fifteen minutes, and then the door for the room next to mine opened. Out walked a mother and her children, followed by the doctor. When the mother and her children left, the doctor called me into his office. I walked into another room with the same wooden floor. There were two chairs in front of a large, wooden desk.

The doctor sat behind the desk and clicked away on his computer. He asked me if I had any allergies or health problems. I would like to point out that this was my first time seeing this doctor, and I did not fill out a single sheet of paperwork about anything. He then asked me what he was seeing me for, and he led me to the adjoining exam room. The entire exam took a matter of minutes, and he prescribed me a few meds. He handed me the prescription and THEN asked me how I was planning on paying.

Now, since France’s administration is slow and not very well-organized for the most part, MGEN (the organization that handles the paperwork for Social Security/health insurance) actually lost my dossier and I had to re-submit all the forms for it, so I still don’t have insurance here. Here’s the good news, though: WITHOUT insurance, that doctor’s visit cost me only 22 Euros. The medication (there were three different kinds) cost me twenty-something Euros as well WITHOUT insurance - can you imagine? Health care really is accessible to everyone here.

As for quality and thoroughness of care, I have yet to make a decision on that…

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